TAUNTON — A Taunton police officer has taken a lead role in teaching other police officers about the importance of compassion, empathy and respect when dealing with people with mental illness.

Last week, Taunton Patrolman Steven Turner helped teach 67 law enforcement officers and mental health clinicians — including 35 police officers — on how to instruct other officers about diversionary approaches for people living with mental illnesses.

“I’m not becoming a doctor, but it’s about having a little bit of awareness of how to handle that person,” Turner said. “In the past, we probably have not been as compassionate as we should have or could have been.”

Turner joined Department of Mental Health Assistant Commissioner for Forensic Services Debra Pinals, members of the Municipal Police Training Committee and representatives of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Massachusetts as part of the Train the Trainer program last week in Randolph. The officers and clinicians who were taught by Turner and others at last week’s Train the Trainer program will go on to teach new mental health curriculum, prepared by DMH and NAMI-Mass, at all Municipal Police Training Committee-operated police academies throughout the state.

Turner said that the goal is to reduce repeat police calls to individuals suffering from mental illness and related issues; to divert them from the court system when possible; and to get them the services they need.

“What it does mean is opening up the communication line,” Turner said. “It’s not going to change cases that I’m going to have to arrest a person, because the statute says I don’t have a choice, say for a domestic assault. But what we are trying to do is get people into the mental health system. We don’t want to clog out the courts. … It could be PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), or bipolar, or it could be a million things. Let’s just put this person on the right path.”

Ultimately, Turner said, increasing police awareness of people with mental health issues will help cut down on the repeat calls to those suffering from the mental health issues. He said it would also help improve the safety of the police officers, those suffering from mental health problems and other innocent bystanders.

“We see that a lot of calls for the so-called frequent flyers, a couple times a week,” Turner said. “You are tying up manpower. We don’t have time for that. … We have to learn to deal with it in the best way and in a thorough manner, and you’ll cut down on those calls.”

Turner said that dealing with the people with mental health issues could mean calling in the mobile mental health crisis unit from Norton to provide assistance, in terms of case workers and diversion programs. For those who are arrested, it could mean providing information to the courts about the existence of an apparent mental health issue, prompting the courts to assign the person to mental health treatment, he said.

Page 2 of 3 - “The 12-hour training (that will be provided at the academies) makes a better police officer to be more thoroughly trained and experienced in these cases that they have to deal with several times a day,” he said

Turner, a 26-year police veteran and a former special education teacher, said, “mental health has always been a passion of mine.” Turner became the chairperson of the Community Crisis Intervention Team in Taunton, which involves police, teachers and other stakeholders in the community, and does training three times a year for mental health crisis intervention. Turner said there is an upcoming training session in May being held at the Silver City Galleria mall.

“It’s unbelievable how passionate and powerful that team is,” said Turner, who has been involved with CCIT for 16 years. “It brings the different expertise of different lives and careers.”

Turner said the group often pulls together professionals to offer help to those in need of mental health services or their family members, to get together, talk and offer them a plan, at no charge.

June Binney, the criminal justice program director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Massachusetts, said that Taunton is “a model community for stakeholder groups” through the CCIT team, and she credited Turner for his role in that.

“He is so compelling,” Binney said. “If you can listen to him training, he is really a tribute to your police department.”

Binney said the police mental health training is extremely important, as those suffering with mental health issues are disproportionately the subjects of incarceration, which she called “a major problem.”

Binney said that the police training helps increase safety for police and the mentally ill, and teaches important de-escalation skills used during encounters with the mentally ill.

“The secondary goal is you can avoid an unnecessary arrests, and unnecessarily putting someone into jail or prison who doesn’t need to be there,” Binney said. “The first time you arrest someone that becomes more difficult because of the record of arrests tends to exacerbate, not help the situation. For instance, a trespassing or harassment offense may end up with felony assault on police officer because everyone is upset and the person with mental illness can just escalate. What we are trying to do is de-escalate and keep it calm.”

Binney said important de-escalation skills that police officers are learning includes a variety of tactics, once the officer recognizes they are dealing with someone who has a mental illness.

“Speaking in low voice, a calm voice,” she said. “Using first names. ‘Hi, I’m Steve. Hi, William, you seem pretty upset.’ Observing, not judging. Keeping hands in pocket. Keep yourself quiet and contained. Re-assuring the person you’re not going to hurt them or arrest them, just get them help. Just providing some empathy and calm to the situation.”

Page 3 of 3 - Binney said that obviously there are dangerous situations where de-escalation is not an option, such as if a stabbing has already taken place. But Binney said that there are many situations that de-escalation is a viable, useful option.

“Living in cities or in a town you walk through center of town and someone may be homeless, responding to voices,” Binney said. “They may seem threatening and scary. But we want to educate police officers about mental illness and understanding about empathy and compassion. Overriding all of that though is safety.”